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Play On Words, the award-winning speech therapy company, announced that Guidecraft’s Better Builders® Emotions received their 2016 PAL Top 10 Award for School Age Toys. The PAL Awards were established to identify unique toys, games and books that through their design, quality and character, encourage play that advances language. Robert Artemenko, CMO of Play On Words, said that Better Builders Emotions “was exemplary among this year’s PAL Winners, advancing language in the context of great play.”

Sherry Artemenko M.A., C.C.C., founder of Play On Words and well-respected speech pathologist, assesses and reviews toys and books with input from parents, kids and educators. Observing play in action, combined with her critical eye for language potential, Sherry awards products and writes insightful reviews offering practical tips on how to maximize the educational value in each PAL winner. She had this to say about Better Builders Emotions,

“With Emotional Intelligence or EQ being a hot topic right now and the knowledge that we can increase a child’s EQ by helping them name, identify, and regulate their emotions, this building set is a great tool to further those language and social skills. My social worker friend tells me that sometimes kids talk more about their feelings when they have some object to work with, like a stuffed animal or Better Builders Emotions figure that they can express their thoughts through. As a language therapist, I see the opportunity for kids to express themselves, and even use the different faced figures to explain what to do or not do in certain situations, or talk about how others must feel, allowing them to grow in their social skills too!”

Better Builders Emotions encourages dramatic play with faces expressing 6 distinct emotions to which children can relate: happy, sad, angry, surprised, confused, and scared. Interchangeable friction-fit hairstyles, 3 male and 3 female, create new personalities and allow for personal connection to the characters. They are designed to assist in understanding feelings, encouraging positive expression, and verbal and nonverbal communication. Additional dramatic play sets that are a part of the Better Builders magnetic building toy system are Better Builders Career People and Better Builders Community People.

Guidecraft is honored that Better Builders Emotions has received this recognition from such a highly-regarded speech expert. Be sure to check out the 2016 PAL Top 10 Award press release and watch Sherry Artemenko on Fox 6 Milwaukee News as she reviews Better Builders Emotions here (featured at 3:27)!

“Children must master the language of things before they master the language of words.”

—Friedrich Froebel

Guidecraft Beehive Lace

Manipulatives were first introduced into children’s educational curriculum in 1837 by Friedrich Froebel, the father of Kindergarten. Froebel developed a variety of maneuverable objects, which he called Froebel Gifts, to aid his students in recognizing patterns and geometric forms.

Long before Froebel, people had been using physical objects to count and solve simple mathematics. It was only in the 1800s, with his help, that the modern day manipulatives were designed as concrete, maneuverable objects that were created with the specific intention of teaching mathematical concepts as well as encouraging sensory exploration. Blocks, geometric shapes, and textures are often present in traditional and present day manipulatives.

Many basic mathematical concepts such as sorting, counting, distinguishing patterns, and understanding geometry and operations are taught using manipulatives. It is widely accepted that having manipulatives as a teaching aid allows for more grounded and integrated lessons across various learning levels. They allow struggling students to better understand concepts but also provide alternative activities for students who grasp lessons easily. A student who may not retain concepts through lecture can often learn the same concept through the physical aspect of manipulatives.

Guidecraft Sorting Tree

Manipulative toys are also ideal for children with special needs or for reinforcing lessons at home for children best suited towards hands-on or visual learning. Introducing manipulative play allows the exploration of self-discovery for individual play or teamwork activities for group collaboration.

This year, we are happy to introduce eight new products to our robust line of manipulatives. They include diverse toys that introduce sensory, abstract, and non-traditional learning experiences to stimulate development of children ages 2+. These manipulatives are easy for little hands to grasp and assist in developing essential cognitive skills including fine motor skills, tactile exploration, sequencing, hand-eye coordination, as well as visualization and processing. Encourage sensory and mathematical learning that promote multiple benefits such as: verbalizing mathematical concepts,presentation skills, storytelling, expression of thought process, teamwork and collaboration. See our newest manipulatives products below:

Geo Shape Lacing is a colorful, geometric new look for a classic lacing activity toy. Set includes 3 over-sized geometric lacing boards and multi-colored laces. Children can experiment with color, patterns, letters, and pictures within the frames.

The Beehive Lacing set combines a classic lacing activity while inspiring dramatic play. Set includes a solid rubberwood beehive with holes for the three bees on multi-colored lacing strings to lace through it.

This brightly colored Count and Lace activity toy provides 8 different types of fruits to lace. The set includes two long laces with caterpillar shaped wooden needles and beaded stoppers for secure threading. 10 activity cards are provided to assist teachers and for children to use for pattern matching.

This adorable Caterpillar Stacking set exercises fine motor skills and fun-filled sensory exploration, along with sorting, matching and sequencing skills. This sweet manipulative toy is made up of rounded, chunky, tactile shapes that can stack to create a variety of colorful caterpillar families.

The sturdy wooden Sorting Tree is a perfect way to teach color and shape-matching while reinforcing fine motor skills. Each set supplies 6 colorful screws in two different sizes that can be matched by size and color and screwed into corresponding holes in the wooden tree-like base.

This multi-tasking Sensory Stacking Blocks set encourages tactile discrimination and sensory exploration while encouraging environmental design and dramatic play. The 12 chunky building block shapes with various inset textures, suggest houses and buildings and connect with simple joints. Additional wooden figures, trees and a car add to the fun!

Beautiful, colorful, wooden Sorting Vehicles are the perfect way to teach color and shape-matching while stimulating fine motor and sensory skills. Three vehicle-shaped blocks have inset sensory blocks, displaying sand, water and beads through framed acrylic windows.

This brightly colored wooden Fruit Stacking set is a fun-filled sensory exploration toy which also teaches counting, sorting and shape selection. The beautifully designed, manipulative toy consists of an orange, apple and pear sliced in halves, thirds and quarters respectively.